Feds: Citations coming in job fatality

BUTTE — Federal officials say they are preparing to issue citations in connection with the death of a Montana worker who fell from an aerial lift in Butte last month.

The Montana Standard  reports the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has concluded its on-site investigation into the conditions and safety factors that may have contributed to the death of Jay F. Bickford.

OSHA regional director Jeff Funke says Big Sky Rental and the company’s owner, Bill Robinson, have cooperated fully in the investigation. Funke says the citations should be issued within about a month of the completion of OSHA’s compliance report. Among the issues investigated by OSHA is whether a safety harness was being used and whether the company reported the death to OSHA within eight hours, as required.

Bickford was in the bucket of the lift when the machinery tipped over on Oct. 18. He was thrown from the equipment and suffered numerous injuries, and later died at a hospital.

“There are things this company could have done to save his life,” said Funke.

Robinson said as soon as he heard about the accident, he was en route to Missoula. Bickford was not only an employee but also part of his family.

“It’s just a sad, horrible accident,” Robinson said, adding that further details would come out when the reports are concluded.

“We’re doing the best we could do with a horrible situation,” he added.

Funke said the circumstances surrounding Bickford’s death aren’t rare — construction leads the nation in work-related deaths, and ejection is the main hazard with aerial lifts.

“Hopefully a lesson can be learned out of this,” Funke said. “The last thing we want to do is fatality inspections.”